This is for Saying Yes

“Play like Saturn is on his knees, proposing with all of his 10,000 rings that we give every singe breath...This is for saying yes" -A.G.

So it's official, I am leaving this afternoon. I bought a train ticket and I'm heading back to Olympia for an undetermined amount of time...
I want to make a last blog post to reflect and say THANK YOU...
to Cycle-A-Circus for making me part of the family despite my lack of circus skills. To Saturn, Ghost, Hannibal, Pearl, Spark, and Surly Shirley Tip Tows for making this journey with us and taking us places we never would have gone otherwise...
To Lilia for being one of my favorite people ever and talking with me about everything and knowing all the sweet pop songs...I can't tell you how grateful I am you were part of this journey. To Tyger for making me laugh more than anyone besides Cameron, always finding a beautiful light to look at everything under, and incessantly reminding me how awesome life is. To JC for being so excited and enthusiastic about everything and being the master dumpsterer. To Jon Jon for having such a genuinely good heart, reminding me over the past weeks why we used to hang out all the time, and being a good bike mechanic. To Micah for being so thoughtful and observant and having an amazing ability to sleep anywhere.
To all of the people who helped us out along the way, whose generosity got us through the days. For all of the smiles and hellos, the good lucks, the interest taken in what we're doing, the advice on places to go and sleep, the food, the yards and houses to sleep in, the showers, the directions, the encouragement, the conversations...
To the farmers and workers and land who produced the food that kept me fueled. To those who made the sections of bike path we rode on possible. To the exorbitant amounts of roadkill for always reminding me how scary cars are. To the poets whose words I kept with me for constantly giving me new inspiration. To the moon for making me fall in love with you over and over again every night. To the bugs and birds and trees and other creatures, the caterpillar that shot orange things out of its head, the mountains of western MT, the rolling hills of WI and everything between and beyond, to the epic lightning and hail storms for being breathtakingly astounding, giving me a constantly renewed sense of awe, and reminding me how small I am. To the mosquitoes for showing me the power of small things, especially in mass numbers. To the frustrating headwinds for trying to teach me to accept the things I cannot change, and to be patient.
I could literally go on for pages with this...thank you to Caylan, DJ, Gabe, the people who brought us strawberries and bananas in the morning, whoever corrected the stop sign to read "Stop Voldemort" for making me laugh, the Lutherans in Kremling for their kindness and cookies and brownies, the librarians in Cut Bank for all of their help, Wendy for so much hospitality and Aloe for my sunburn, the woman at the gas station who felt bad for me so gave me free fried chicken under the pretense that I was the 50th customer, to the organizers of the block party in Minneapolis, to the workers everywhere who keep things going...
These are only snapshots of the incredible amount of generosity and amazingness I experienced all along the way. There's no way I could begin to complete this, but thank you to everyone and everything I encountered for teaching me new things and giving me new things to think about. I was amazed everyday…It didn't matter where we were...everyday brought new adventures and new lessons. I'll always have the memories we created, from the Night at the Post Office in Etheridge to the beautiful day lost in Frerret, to the rounds of Asshole, to the days of riding and riding and riding…

Thank you to Saturn, my bike and the planet, for reminding me that I am alive, to put myself into everything. To give every single breath...

And again, an especially big thank you to the bike crew, Lilia, Jon Jon, Tyger, JC, and Micah...I love you all. Thanks for everything. I may or may not rejoin you down the road, but either way know that I am leaving this feeling more in love with life than I ever have. I am so grateful for you all and grateful for this experience. Sorry for the long rambling post...

Keep taking care of yourselves and each other. Hope to see you all soon…

Big love,

Kaite